Tagged: Parkland neighborhood

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Attica Scott’s push to demolish the worst vacant and abandoned properties in District 1 has ignited a debate between residents and neighborhood leaders on how to tackle the problem.

The "Bringing Down the House" initiative is part of Metro Government’s overall effort to raze houses officials argued cannot be rehabilitated.

In January, Scott appropriated $25,000 in discretionary funds to pay for just over half a dozen demolitions mostly in the Parkland neighborhood.

Just this week, Scott's office announced one of those targeted properties located a 3020 Hale Avenue was torn down by city crews. It is the second house to be razed on that block in recent months, and another on Virginia Avenue was demolished last year.

In the announcement, Scott said this is an intentional attempt to clean up a scourge of empty structures. But neighborhood activists such as Chickasaw Federation President Donovan Taylor say tearing down those properties is not the answer, adding more should be done to refurbish those homes.

"There's a blight that comes with vacancy in the form of overgrown grass, liter and blight. And demolishing the homes does not eliminate that primary primary. You’re killing the fabric of the neighborhood when you may have a block that once had 20 homes that now only have 10 homes," he says. "We have on house on Cecil and Greenwood that during the summer the grass becomes so high that you can barely see the home because it’s between two vacant lots."

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Attica Scott, D-1, and community activist Christopher 2x announced a march to commemorate the triple homicide in the Parkland neighborhood last year.

But one of the family members of a victim says it's a misplaced attempt by the city lawmaker and activist to grab headlines.

The shootings at 32nd Street and Greenwood Avenue occurred on May 17, 2012, resulting in the deaths of Craig Bland Jr., 22, Tyson Mimms, 24 and Makeba Lee, 24.

At least one of the shootings occurred in front of dozens of onlookers, including local media and police officers. The brazen act sparked local outrage among residents and elected officials and a mayoral task force was launched to conduct a study on how to prevent violence.

During a Monday press conference, Scott and 2X announced plans to hold a moment of silence on May 17 featuring Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad, along with a "Compassion Walk" on May 18 at the site of the three homicides.

"What I’m hoping it will do is one, to help people to reflect on the fact that we have lost way too many lives in the city of Louisville to senseless and unnecessary gun violence," says Scott. "And also to ask themselves what are they doing to make a difference in neighborhoods that are experiencing this type of violence."

But Lee's grandfather says it's disturbing neither Scott's office or 2X's group Connected Voices contacted his family about the march, adding the focus should be more about solutions than their personal tragedies.

Louisville Metro Council members of both parties are questioning Mayor Greg Fischer for creating a new director for violence prevention in the wake of a West End shooting spree.

A 37-member task force group was formed after three people were fatally shot  in the Parkland neighborhood in May. Among the group’s dozens of recommendations was hiring a full-time coordinator to work on violence prevention and implement efforts in city government.

But Democratic and Republican lawmakers are unsure about the cost and argue the position is redundant because Metro Government already has a chief of police and director of public safety.

Councilman Kelly Downard, R-16, says Fischer was right to respond to the rash of homicides, but that his office hasn’t communicated what the new director is expected to do or what experience they should have.

"Is this the answer? Just to hire somebody? I mean throwing money to someone who has knowledge of the community and can mediate—I mean my gosh," he says. "The whole job description sounds like it was written by somebody who just wanted to use adjectives, but not any concrete experience."

The brazen shootings in west Louisville's Parkland neighborhood is still being felt almost two weeks later, with a new task force being formed by the mayor's office to deal with long-term violence.

Several city leaders and community activists have held press conferences to discuss the matter, but there are still many unanswered questions about the incident itself. W